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Buckingham Palace: Repairs and Maintenance

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the exterior of Buckingham Palace is due to be cleaned; if the Government will ensure such work has priority over work to other royal premises; and if he will make a statement. [152608]

Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport provides the Royal Household with an annual £15 million grant for property maintenance
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of the Occupied Royal Palaces in England. It is the responsibility of the Royal Household to decide how these funds are allocated.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent requests have been received from the Royal Household for refurbishment or building work to Royal premises; and what such work has been agreed to. [152609]

Margaret Hodge: The Department has not received any specific requests from the Royal Household for refurbishment or building work to Royal premises, as the Royal Household are responsible for prioritising projects and deciding how the annual £15 million grant is allocated.

Departments: Air Conditioning

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on the hire of mobile air conditioning units in each of the last five years. [151976]

Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Royal Parks Agency have not incurred any expenditure on the hire of mobile air conditioning units in the last five years.

Departments: Aviation

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by his Department on (a) first class and (b) business class flights in the last 12 months. [153275]

James Purnell: The departmental expenditure on first class flights was £65,404 and £201,110 for business class flights in the last financial year as recorded by the Department’s contracted travel agent. This amount excludes occasional travel booked directly which can be identified only at disproportionate cost.

Regarding Ministers’ visits overseas, since 1999 the Government have published, on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 was published on 25 July 2007.

All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code, the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.

Departments: Disabled

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of people employed by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies are disabled. [153580]

Margaret Hodge: DCMS is a very small Department with 527 staff. As a Department we do monitor across the equality strands and 3 per cent. of staff have declared a disability.


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DCMS’s agency Royal Parks Agency employ just fewer than 100 staff, with 1 per cent. of their staff having declared a disability.

DCMS is committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and as a Department we endeavour to offer employment appointments to disabled people. In recognition of this, we have been accredited with the “Positive About Disabled People—Two Ticks Symbol” following an assessment made by Jobcentre Plus.

As part of our on-going commitment, we ensure that we monitor and evaluate our recruitment and retention procedures, by consulting staff on a range of disability issues, and by ensuring reasonable adjustments to our working environment are made.

Departments: Flowers

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by his Department on flowers in the last 12 months. [153270]

Margaret Hodge: In the 12 months up to 26 July 2007 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport spent £4,675 on flowers.

Departments: Legislation

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which pieces of legislation enacted in each of the last 10 years for which his Department is responsible have yet to be brought into force. [147197]

Margaret Hodge: All of the Acts introduced by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in the last 10 years have been brought into force. However, not all of the enactments contained in those Acts have been brought into force. These are as follows:

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which Bills introduced by his Department in the last five years contained sunset clauses; and what plans he has for the future use of such clauses. [151837]


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Margaret Hodge: Section 180 of the Gambling Act 2005 is a sunset clause and provides that the section which concerns pool betting on dog races shall cease to have effect on 31 December 2012.

Sections 10 to 18 of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 will cease to have effect at the end of the “London Olympic period”, that is after the fifth day after the closing ceremony of the Paralympic games 2012. Those sections relate to transport, and among other things, they provide for the making and implementation of the Olympic Transport Plan. Section 33 and schedule 4 of the same Act will cease to have effect after 31 December 2012. Those provisions create the London Olympics and Paralympics association rights—intellectual property rights that prevent unauthorised associations with the London games.

The appropriateness of a sunset clause for the whole or part of any proposed legislation is considered on a case-by-case basis. It is also addressed when a regulatory impact assessment relating to legislation is being prepared.

Departments: Manpower

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people have been appointed to his Department outside civil service grades in the last 30 days. [153277]

Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not appointed anyone outside civil service grades in the last 30 days.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press officers are employed by his Department. [153279]

Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport employs 13 press officers.

Departments: Pay

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many bonuses were awarded to senior civil servants working at her Department and its agencies in each year between 1997 and 2006; and what the total cost of those bonuses was. [146422]

Margaret Hodge: Such information as is available is shown in the following table and includes the percentage of the total pay bill for each year:

Number of bonuses Total cost (£) Percentage of total pay bill

2003-04

28

79,372

0.42

2004-05

27

81,950

0.41

2005-06

37

122,816

0.55

2006-07

27

139,750

0.59


The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its agency the Royal Parks makes bonus payments to its staff for two purposes: (a) special bonuses to reward outstanding contributions in particularly demanding tasks or situations, and (b) performance bonuses to reward highly successful performance over a whole year.


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David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many non-pensionable bonuses were awarded to members of staff in his Department in the last three years; and at what total cost. [146992]

Margaret Hodge: The Department makes bonus payments to its staff for two purposes:

The table shows the total of all bonuses paid and the percentage of the overall pay bill that these amounts represent.

Number of bonuses paid Total bonus cost (£) Percentage of total pay bill

2003-04

215

206,643

0.90

2004-05

172

215,285

0.94

2005-06

240

347,241

1.29


Departments: Press

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by his Department on newspapers and magazines in the last 12 months. [153268]

Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport spent £57,531 on newspapers and magazines in the last 12 months.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to which periodicals his Department subscribes. [153276]

Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport subscribes to the following periodicals:


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